1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to body surfing apparatus characterized by reduced hydrodynamic drag and improved lateral maneuverability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Successful body surfing depends upon the ability of a surfer to quickly accelerate onto a breaking wave and maintain that position for a prolonged period of time. Originally the body surfer used no equipment. He or she simply swam out to a likely place, waited for a promising wave, and then swam rapidly to match the speed of the wave. Eventually swim fins came to be used to make this easier.
With experience the surfer learned that he was better able to mount a wave and maneuver across its face if he held his body and particularly his arms and legs in a certain way. If properly done this would minimize hydrodynamic drag and the arms and legs could be extended in a controlled manner to steer the surfer where he wanted to go.
Some have theorized that the position of the head is particularly important in body surfing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,652 (Uyehara) discloses a body mounted surfboard having a torso portion which covers the chest and stomach. It includes a "large, soft, neck-encircling" doughnut shaped collar portion to prevent injury to the user. Only this and a narrow waist-encircling band attach the surfboard to the wearer. Otherwise, the surfboard has no sides.
The torso portion tapers from a large section near the chest to a thinner section near the waist, the thicker section accommodating a series of longitudinal grooves in its convex outer surface to provide directional stability and presumably to provide the buoyancy which is a feature of the surfboard.
The buoyant surfboard is extra buoyant at the top of the torso portion and in the region of the large soft collar portion to promote "forcing of the head outward of a wave front when riding a wave" and to keep "the head above the water when the wearer may experience trouble or exhaustion".
U.S. Pat. No. 1,547,097 (Curle) discloses a swimmer's vest which is generally analogous to Uyehara because it is buoyant, but Curle is not concerned with body surfing. His device is in the nature of a vest to be worn under a bathing suit as a safety device. It includes a central body portion having an inflatable pocket on its outer face. A strap arrangement is provided to attach it to the swimmer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,636 (Ganshaw) is informative respecting another buoyant body surfing device. It is a body surfing shirt made of woven material and including a chest pad and a pair of forearm pads made of buoyant material. The shirt protects the user from abrasion and is described as providing extra flotation to "thereby increase the speed and distance traveled during body surfing".
Another buoyant body surfing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,271 (Bartlett). It is an air filled or flotation foam filled garment in the nature of a wet suit having a torso portion and short sleeve and leg portions. The object is to increase buoyancy "so that the body surfer can skim across the water powered by only the wave energy". Further buoyancy is provided by including chest and thigh pockets which are inflatable or which receive buoyant foam material. The buoyancy is such that the surfer "merely floats on the back or in an upright position, and remains relaxed while waiting for each wave".